A drunken anniversary
by MissKluck
Summary: Sakura goes to check up on Sasuke after he comes home from a long mission, but she doesn't quite get what she expected. It would seem that Sasuke and sake doesn't mix, or does it? Shirtlessness is at least a consequence of this. SasuSaku. One-shot.


So both because my fics for SSmonth so far had been so angsty, and because we didn't get any shirtless Sasuke in this weeks chapter either, I present to you 'A drunken anniversary'! (I know the title isn't the best, but please bear with me)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only this one-shot is mine.

**A drunken anniversary**

"S-Sasuke-kun!" A pink haired girl gasped as she accidentally walked in on her teammate half-naked. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean it! I-I-I'll just go a-and wait outside!" The medic stumbled out of his apartment again, cheeks heavily flushed. She had just wanted to check up on Sasuke as he was finally home again from quite the long mission, but she'd never expected to find him like _that._ Her heart sped faster as her mind couldn't help but recall what she'd just seen. The fine-toned stomach, the flexing muscles, the strong arms- Sakura shook her head. She had promised herself not to do such things anymore. Sasuke was her friend, her teammate, and even though she still loved him he would probably never love her back and she'd just have to deal with it again. Still, images couldn't help but pop into her mind. She also recalled the war, when Sasuke had disappeared for a while only to come back some time later without almost any clothes on.

Just as she finished that thought, the door opened behind her again to reveal a still shirtless Uchiha. He watched amused as Sakura again spun around surprised, blush even redder now. Sasuke was only wearing a towel now so maybe that was the reason?

"S-S-Sasuke-kun! Wh-what are you doing?!" The girl seemed to have trouble breathing now, seeing him so close and so, well, naked clearly seemed to have an impact on her. And she called herself a doctor?

"Hn, I was just about to take a shower, but I just wanted to test out a theory first," Sasuke replied, an amused glint still in his eyes. "And it seems I'm right." Sasuke didn't know what prompted him to do what he did next. Maybe it was the hard hits to the head he had taken during the mission or the sake he had had afterwards. Sasuke leaned a little forward, slightly tracing the jawline of his female teammate as he whispered: "Despite your super strength I still have power over you Haruno Ssssakura." He dragged out the 's', almost like a snake.

Sakura went completely rigid, her face becoming even redder if possible before she jumped away. "Ah! S-Sasuke-k-kun! What are you d-doing?!"

"Well, I was just going to take a shower," Sasuke said, straightening up as if nothing had happened. He seemed to think something over for a moment before he smirked and asked, "Do you want to join?" The boy got the exact reaction he'd hoped for.

"S-S-S-Sasuke-k-kun!" The girl exclaimed, almost seeming to have trouble breathing from her embarrassment and surprise. "I-y-you-We! How can you? What are you…?" Sakura stammered, now not even daring to look at the half-naked man standing before her. "I-I just, well I need to!" What was even happening? Not only was Sasuke standing there half-naked before her, but he was acting different than usual, much more forward than his normal self. Why was he even standing there in his towel in the first place? And on top of that he had just asked her to join him in the shower? Sakura couldn't comprehend what was happening; she just knew it messed up her thoughts, giving her a hard time thinking clearly.

"Well, do you?" Sasuke drawled as amused as ever. This girl clearly was interesting and Sasuke found this newfound, weird pleasure in teasing her. Normally he would never have done or said anything like this. He'd probably just continued changing and headed into the shower, but now influenced by quite the bit of sake and wounds still not tended properly to, a lot of what was usually holding him down seemed to almost push him up instead. He felt so oddly forward and daring, and even weirder, he found himself actually liking it.

Sakura looked up at Sasuke again, a little shaken out of her thoughts by him speaking again. "Do what?" she felt a little stupid asking that, but right now she just felt like in a weird daze or dream. She noticed that his eyes actually seemed a little unfocused. Was he influenced by something perhaps?

Sasuke smirked again, lightly shaking his head. "I said, do you want to join me in the shower?"

Her eyes went wide again. He definitely had to have something in his system, though Sakura had a hard time concentrating on that because of his request and his, well, shirtlessness. "What?! No! I mean yes! I mean what? I-I mean that's not why I came," Sakura was looking down again, cheeks still burning.

A sudden hand on her shoulder had her snapping her head up again only to find herself being guided into the apartment. "Well, Sssssakura," Sasuke whispered behind her. "Why don't you sort out your thoughts while I shower and you can decide if you want to join or not?" She was eerily aware of how close to her Sasuke was; hand on her lower back gently pushing her, clad only in a small towel. How had she even ended up here? One thing was for sure though; Sasuke was not acting like his usual self. Something had to be wrong. So while Sasuke disappeared off to take a shower, Sakura awkwardly walked around his apartment, trying to figure out just what had caused Sasuke to become like he was now.

Sakura had recognized a faint, but familiar smell from his breath and now her suspicious got confirmed. An almost empty sake bottle, and a quite large one at that, stood on his living room table. Beside the bottle was a first aid kit, items from it scattered around on the table along with a lot of bloodied cotton. So Sasuke was drunk AND wounded? Just beside the table laid some clothes sprawled on the ground, the shirt ripped up several places and covered with blood. Just what kind of mission had Sasuke been on that prompted his to come home like this? And on top of that start drinking? Then Sakura remembered that she wasn't actually sure if Sasuke had had alcohol before or not. For all she knew he could have been out on bars with Orochimaru each weekend. She didn't think so though, at least not with how focused Sasuke had been on power and revenge at that time, but who knew?

Sakura felt a little saddened by realizing how little she still knew about this new Sasuke. They hadn't spoken that much since the war ended, Naruto had of course dragged them with him whenever he could, but she still didn't know Sasuke, at least not like she used to. Cursing from the bathroom interrupted Sakura's thoughts and without thinking about it she ran over and ripped the door open. There, clad only in his boxers with hair still wet and drizzling, sat Sasuke-kun, hand covering something on his right side. He has several cuts on his arms and abdomen that was now bleeding and Sakura saw that there was blood on a towel just beside him. She felt stupid for not having noticed this before, only having focused on how good Sasuke looked topless. Sakura inwardly scolded herself as she bent down, letting the medic take over.

"Can you stand?" She asked, trying to examine his wounds.

"Y'know Sakura, this isn't the time to check people out, but since it's you I'll let it pass," Sasuke was smirking again, reminding Sakura too much of his alternative universe self. She tried to ignore him though, focusing on his wounds instead. She gently removed his hand to get better access to the wound in his side. "If you wanted to hold my hand so bad you should've just asked," Sasuke purred near her ear, making her heart beat faster and she found she had a hard time concentrating on what she needed to do.

Still, Sakura managed to close up his wound as well as all the scratches and bruises on his arms and abdomen. All finished she just sat there for a bit, unknowingly resting her hands on his stomach as she took some time to breath. It hadn't been such a good idea to come just after a hard shift after all, Sakura concluded wryly. But still, as soon as she had heard from Tsunade that Sasuke was back she went to find him. Somewhere in the back of her mind she still had that fear that he might suddenly leave them again.

"Heh, you really like my stomach that much?" Sasuke smirked down at her, reminding Sakura just where she had her hands. Blushing Sakura scattered back, just avoiding hitting the doorframe with the back of her head.

"N-no! It's not like that, I'm just tired after my hospital shift that's all!" Sakura tried to assure, but by Sasuke still smirking, almost grinning at her she knew he didn't believe her. Either that or he was just enjoying teasing her way too much. Of course it could be a mix of both, but Sakura wasn't sure if she wanted to hope for that or not. Wanting to change the topic over to something else, she said: "Y-you should probably get dressed, I'll leave you now."

"Leaving already?" Was Sasuke actually pouting?! "What, don't you like my body?" The smirk was back. Dang it how he was playing with her! Sakura tried to refuse to blush, but she still felt her cheeks heat up.

"S-Sasuke-kun! That was hardly what I was saying! I just meant that I'd step outside the bathroom for a moment to give you privacy to get changed, nothing else! Besides, who doesn't like his body?" Sakura muttered the last part under her breath before thinking about it, clamping a hand in front of her mouth when she'd said it. She knew Sasuke had heard, the smirk that was more of a smug grin still there. Sakura quickly exited and closed the door before he could say or do something more. Really, was this how Sasuke acted whenever he was affected of alcohol?

Sakura felt really warm, she needed a breather and so she went over to one of his window and opened it. She closed her eyes and let herself calm down as she breathed in that fresh afternoon air. It was a really nice apartment with a perfect location, giving it a beautiful view of the city while still not being to close or distant from it. The clicking of a door had Sakura opening her eyes again, turning around just in time to see Sasuke come out of the bathroom. Wait, why wasn't that shirt buttoned up?

Sasuke came prancing out of the bathroom in ninjapants and an open shirt without any care in the world it seemed. Was he doing this on purpose? Judging by his smirking gaze at her Sakura decided that yes, Sasuke, or at least the drunk version of Sasuke, was definitely showing off his naked chest on purpose. Sakura, still blushing, groaned inwardly as she didn't know how much more of this she could take. At least he wasn't usually drunk and outgoing like this. Even though it was a little nice Sakura still preferred the real, sober Sasuke. The one she knew how to actually handle.

Without looking at him Sakura went over to the couch and sat down, looking at the mess in front of her. "Too stunned to speak?" Sasuke came over too, sitting down beside her on the couch. Sakura was about to answer with how tired she was feeling when she noticed something sticking out from under all the cotton. It seemed to be part of a photo, a crumbled one but a photo nonetheless. Tentatively she reached out, vary if this was something that she wasn't supposed to touch and that Sasuke might interrupt her or stop her.

Sasuke did neither. He just watched as Sakura grabbed and pulled out the photo, turning it over to look at it. It had become a little sticky and Sakura guessed it was because of the sake. The photo was of a young family; it was a man with a stern face, a much gentler woman and two boys. Sakura realized who they were and she couldn't help but look over at Sasuke. He was staring straight ahead, the smirk was gone, but he was still not sober. Sakura took her chance.

"Sasuke-kun, what happened on the mission?"

He cast her a glance, as if pondering about whether to tell her or not. Finally, he said, "There wasn't much happening on the mission. It was actually a quite peaceful mission, no enemy attacks or hidden agendas from our clients. It was on the way back though…" He trailed off, again staring ahead. Sakura waited patiently, keeping quiet as she waited for more.

"On our way back to Konoha we came across this family that we had met on our way from Konoha. It was a man, a woman and two sons going on vacation I think. However, when we came across them on our way home it wasn't a normal encounter. They had all been killed, slaughtered down, bloody bodies lying around an extinguished fire. The two brothers were lying almost side-by-side, it seemed one had protected the other. And I-I couldn't help the memories from resurfacing. I still have nightmares Sakura, but this was worse because I was already awake." Sasuke looked over at her, intently staring her at her with eyes glazed over, and at that moment Sakura couldn't remember ever seeing Sasuke as scared, as vulnerable. Sakura instinctively took Sasuke's hand, feeling pretty bold, but hoping Sasuke wouldn't brush her off.

Sasuke looked down at his hand under hers, and Sakura was afraid he'd do something, but he just continued to speak, "Of course enemy shinobi just had to attack us, but I just couldn't focus, not with the family lying slaughtered behind me. It reminded me too much of, well, of what happened all those years ago. We still managed to win though, even if they scraped me up pretty badly, but of course I can just seduce you into healing me like I did now if it ever were to happen again."

If the situation hadn't been so sombre at the moment Sakura might have blushed or laughed, feeling surprised by Sasuke trying to crack a joke. Now, however, she just felt more saddened by the sad try on a joke. "I arrived back here early today, reporting to the hokage first before coming home here. On the way home I remembered just what day it is today… 9 years huh?" Sasuke continued to stare down at their hands with a vacant, distant look. Sakura wasn't sure what to say, if she should say something. This drunk Sasuke was so different, so much more open and it was so foreign sitting like this with Sasuke. Sakura would lie if she said she didn't enjoy him opening up to her, but not like this. Not when he was a drunken mess of emotions. "Do you… Do you think they're proud of what I've done? Is it enough?"

The words sounded so weird that Sakura at first didn't register that it was Sasuke talking. That vulnerable gaze was back and all Sakura wanted to do was hug him, which she actually dared herself to do, open shirt or not. "I'm sure they are all very, very proud of you Sasuke-kun, I know I am. You've been through a lot, more than any person should go through and it's only logical to have wounds and scars after that because who wouldn't? But I also think that your family would want you to move on, not to forget, but to continue on living, both for yourself and for them. They wouldn't want you stuck in the past, as that'll just continue to hurt you. You can let go, it's okay, they all want what's best for you and that is to not be stuck in the past, to not be hunted by traumas and nightmares. I'm not saying that there won't be more of that because it probably will, but you just have to keep on going, it is already more than enough."

During her little speech Sasuke seemed to stiffen in her embrace, taking in all she said, and when she was done he just sat there as she gave him a last squeeze before letting go. He was starting to come back to his senses, the sake finally starting to leave his system and he took in all he'd said and done since Sakura arrived. Oh crud. Just what the heck had he even been doing? Not only had he been strutting around almost naked, and in front of Sakura no less, but he had heavily flirted with her and several times invited her to join him in the shower! Just what in the world was wrong with him? What had happened?

Sasuke remembered coming home from the hokage's office, pulling forth a large bottle of sake and started drinking even though he'd never tasted any alcohol before. It had tasted weird, and disgusting at first, but as it had started to numb his mind and senses Sasuke had found that he didn't care. He just hadn't thought it would mess with him like that. It was to try and forget about the memories that he had considered it and when he had heard from Sakura before how it numbed people's mind her figured it could be a good way to forget. Clearly he wasn't going to try that again. How was he even supposed to look at Sakura now, what would he say? His pride had taken a fatal blown now, making Sasuke annoyed. He was still an Uchiha dang it!

"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura watched him uncertainly. She had just seen almost as if a light went up for him as his eyes got unglazed. And then she had seen the dread and shame flash over his face. Just what was he even thinking about? He looked over at her and Sakura understood what had happened. He had finally sobered up and was now probably regretting all he'd said and done. Well, it couldn't last all night, and now maybe Sasuke would start acting normal again, even though he might refuse that this ever happened.

"Aa," Sasuke replied, suddenly realizing that his shirt was still unbuttoned. Quickly Sasuke grabbed his collar and started buttoning it up angrily. Had his drunken self no pride?

Sakura was a little saddened by him not acknowledging her words, but she guessed it was better that way, at least to him. She arose to her feet, careful as to not bump into the table and knock something over. "I should get going; I was just coming to see how you were after the mission and I probably need some sleep after that 12 hour shift I just finished," Sakura giggled nervously. It was already awkward and she didn't know what to do to make it less awkward. Sasuke would also probably want to be alone, both for the anniversary and because of everything that had just happened. She guessed she'd just have to come back another day when he hopefully wouldn't be as irritated with them both.

She went over to the door, opening it up and just about to step outside when a voice called, "Sakura, wait." Sasuke stood up too, having realized how tired Sakura probably was after her shift but a small part of himself not wanting to be alone at least today. He came over, looking hesitant, inwardly battling about whether to do ask after such an encounter or not. Finally he made up his mind, swallowing what was rest of his pride Sasuke said, "Thank you, both for coming and listening. Can you- Do you still want to stay?" Sasuke looked away, but Sakura could still see the slight fear that still seemed to be there from earlier. It was the night of the massacre after all.

"Of course Sasuke-kun," she replied softly, giving him a smile as she walked passed him into the apartment again. And if Sakura had looked she would have seen a small, relieved but smug smile play on Sasuke's lips for a moment.


End file.
